The BBC is reporting on another Twitter fuss.

Amidst the news of a mass shooting in California, a lively debate erupted on Twitter over the power and utility of offering “prayers” in the wake of such an event.

It’s political boilerplate to offer “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of violence, and the majority of Republican presidential candidates took this approach after a shooting in California left 14 people dead and more injured.

“Our prayers are with the victims, their families, and the first responders in San Bernardino who willingly go into harm’s way to save others,” wrote Ted Cruz.

Well, you know, I wish they wouldn’t do that. I usually keep it to myself, at least when … Read the rest

Here is the video of Maryam’s talk at Goldsmiths on Monday. Now we can see for ourselves what actually happened.

I’ve watched 25 minutes so far.

At 9 minutes a guy in the front row all in black including a wool cap gets up to take photos of the audience.

At 11:30 there are snickers and mutterings when Maryam mentions the murders of atheist bloggers in Bangladesh.

At 12 two guys in the front row start objecting to being filmed; Maryam tells them to stop talking or get out, the ASH guy who introduced her tells them questions will be at the end, they keep talking and shouting. The noisiest guy, in a grey flat cap, has the gall to … Read the rest

Another one. Is it going to be every other day now? Every day? Several per day?

The New York Times is live updating.

A little over an hour ago –

Police Report Multiple Fatalities, Possibly as Many as 12
Coral Castro, the multimedia coordinator for the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, said that details about the shooting were still in flux, including the number of suspects and casualties.

But she reported that there were “possibly 12 fatalities.”

Ms. Castro said the department was assisting in the investigation and she emphasized that information was still coming in. The police are searching for three possible suspects, she said, but no one is in custody.

She said a news conference would be held

The Goldsmiths Feminist Society removed their statement of solidarity with Goldsmiths Isoc from Facebook but they later tweeted the tumblr version, which remains.

Goldsmiths Feminist Society stands in solidarity with Goldsmiths Islamic Society. We support them in condemning the actions of the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society and agree that hosting known islamophobes at our university creates a climate of hatred.

We showed our support on our Facebook page by sharing ISOC’s post with a message of solidarity. Our Facebook page is designed as a space for us to communicate with our members, and their safety is our first priority, under the policies set out by our Student Union. We reserve the right to remove comments and posts that

Daaaaaaaaaamn – the Goldsmiths Feminist Society expressed solidarity with…ISOC.

The post has apparently been deleted now, but hell and damn, what is wrong with everyone?… Read the rest

Hooray, a December panto at the Norwich Playhouse.

Spooky Kid Productions presents
JACK THE RIPPER THE PANTO

Thu 10th Dec to Sat 12th Dec – 7:30pm
2 hours plus interval
£15 all tickets (+ £1.20 per transaction when tickets posted)

Ahahahahaha look at her, isn’t that funny? No teeth, because she’s poor, you see, and big tits because she’s a whore, and terrified because of the knife. How funny! What larks!

OVERVIEW

Based on the 19th century’s most notorious killer, Jack The Ripper The Panto is a love story with prostitutes, murders, drugs and a good old sing song.

After a spate of unfortunate “incidents” Jack Ripper is forced to flee to London with only Manson, the psychotic cat,

There’s a petition you can sign to stop the stoning of the Sri Lankan domestic worker by the Saudi fascists.

A 45 year old, unnamed Sri Lankan migrant domestic worker and mother of 3 has been sentenced to death by stoning in Saudi Arabia for “adultery.” Zina – that is any sexual relations outside of marriage – are Hudud crimes or “crimes against God.”

The man in the alleged relationship who is single has been sentenced to 100 lashes for “fornication.”

The Muslim Women’s Research & Action Front Sri Lanka says that the stoning is imminent and to take place on Friday 4 December 2015.

We, the undersigned, condemn the death penalty and stoning or flogging, including for private sexual

Goldsmiths ISOC posted its ludicrous version of what happened at Maryam’s talk yesterday, claiming that their members were harassed by the Goldsmiths ASH.

Goldsmiths Islamic Society (ISOC) would like to categorically condemn the vile harassment of our ISOC members (both male and female) by the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society (ASH).

On Monday 30th November, students of Goldsmiths University, alongside members of the public attended an event organised by the ASH titled “Apostasy, Blasphemy & Free Expression, In the age of ISIS”. The ASH invited Maryam Namazie, who is known as a notorious islamophobe to speak at the event, despite our polite request for them to reconsider. The university should be a safe space for all our students. Islamophobic views

So there’s this preacher in Tempe, Arizona…which can just mean he’s some guy who got a few people to listen to him say things somewhere. He could be some guy who invented his own church and got a few neighbors to sit in front of him while he delivers “sermons.” Or he could be a Baptist in good standing; who knows. The point is that “preacher” doesn’t tell you much of anything. We know a few people listened to him because we can hear a few people laughing slightly on the video.

So there he is, in Tempe, and he says all the “homos” should be killed because Leviticus, and that would cure AIDS.

Conservative “Christian” Pastor Steven Anderson

That’s a loss:

The Moroccan writer and sociologist Fatima Mernissi, known for her pioneering work in the field of Islamic feminism, has died.

Her work also touched on broader issues of human rights and democracy in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

Her best known work, Beyond the Veil, examines Islam from a feminist perspective and critiques traditional, male-dominated interpretations.

…

Moroccan-American author Laila Lalami was among many others who paid tribute to Mernissi, writing that “in addition to being a wonderful scholar, Fatema Mernissi was a kind and generous human being. A rare combination.”

Mernissi’s work drew attention to the active political role played by women in the early history of Islam, for example in her book The Forgotten

So Maryam gave her talk at Goldsmiths…and “brothers” from ISOC did their best to disrupt it.

After my talk began, ISOC “brothers” started coming into the room, repeatedly banging the door, falling on the floor, heckling me, playing on their phones, shouting out, and creating a climate of intimidation in order to try and prevent me from speaking.

I continued speaking as loudly as I could. They repeatedly walked back and forth in front of me. In the midst of my talk, one of the ISOC Islamists switched off my PowerPoint and left. The University security had to intervene and remain in the room as I continued my talk.

Eventually the thug who had switched off my PowerPoint

News from our beloved ally Saudi Arabia, so very different from that horrid Islamic State that’s always killing people for no reason.

Sri Lanka has urged Saudi Arabia to pardon a domestic worker, sentenced to death by stoning after she admitted committing adultery while working in the Arab kingdom.  An official from Sri Lanka’s Foreign Employment Bureau said the married 45-year-old, who had worked as a maid in Riyadh since 2013, was convicted of adultery in August.

She had sex with someone. Saudi Arabia is going to throw stones at her to kill her, because she had sex with someone. This is our “ally.”

(You know how the stoning works, right? The woman is buried up to her shoulders, … Read the rest

Kamel Daoud in the New York Times on November 20:

Black Daesh, white Daesh. The former slits throats, kills, stones, cuts off hands, destroys humanity’s common heritage and despises archaeology, women and non-Muslims. The latter is better dressed and neater but does the same things. The Islamic State; Saudi Arabia. In its struggle against terrorism, the West wages war on one, but shakes hands with the other. This is a mechanism of denial, and denial has a price: preserving the famous strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia at the risk of forgetting that the kingdom also relies on an alliance with a religious clergy that produces, legitimizes, spreads, preaches and defends Wahhabism, the ultra-puritanical form of Islam that Daesh feeds on.

Scott Kelly sends a snapshot of California from the ISS.

… Read the rest

I was running around outside most of last week so I didn’t see Dawkins’s latest adventures in publicly chastising a 14-year-old boy for saying he “made” a clock when he didn’t really “make” a clock in the strictest sense of “making” something. I’ve seen some of his previous adventures in that exciting field, and blogged about some of those, but I missed the latest, in which he really outdid himself. He outdid himself by such a margin that CNN took the trouble to report on it.

Eminent British scientist Richard Dawkins has drawn criticism on social media for what some say is an unfair comparison between Ahmed Mohamed, the Texas teenager whose school project was mistaken for a bomb,